Worn on the Sleeve
by Verdot
Summary: Final Fantasy VI. "Leo only wishes that when she asked for it, he could have followed." CelesxLeo


They find no shame in the soldier's life. He was raised with that most peculiar understanding of how peace is kept through the proper application of force, and she took to the sword like a sapling takes to water. He has been in Vector long enough not to ask how or why she is there and to only be glad that she came with no pride; at least not the troublesome kind with the sort of laugh that almost makes his blood go cold.

She calls him General, but lets him call her Celes.

"Would you care for some company?" She waits before he nods to actually approach.

They find no trouble with the decorum required of their stations. He used to, being once awkward at manners despite being skilled at commands. Sometimes he wants to ask her if it comes naturally to her, as if elegance were an inherited trait. Never a misstep and he would envy it were she a man, but in a woman he wants to keep that sort of grace close and hope that it will leave something with him.

There are many words that pass through his mind, but he is only fast enough to catch a few. "So it is done."

They find difficulty in the small things. Leo has learned to deal with soldiers--and with girls--but he has never learned to navigate around Celes's armor and never gotten past the sword she keeps outside the training ring. Her imprisonment is not as simple as a circlet nestled in her hair that he can remove to let her play. And he wonders if she skipped from infant to woman anyway, which would make such simple things void.

"It did not hurt at all, surprisingly."

He always studies her hands and not her face, out of the instinct of the military and the history Celes and he have. He survives battles not purely out of strength, but out of trust. Loyalty requires a focus on the parts of a person most trustworthy and least. Her hands are always steady and her uniform cuffs always crisp.

It is her feet that he watches for betrayal.

"That is surprising."

But now even her hands have lost their steadiness, as the veins waver with Magitek. The infusion leaves the edge of her right sleeve threadbare as well, and he wonders if they will be able to train as closely as before. Two soldiers can cross blades evenly, but he is but a man, and she has taken the path of something more.

This is proven in only moments, when she pulls on his arm and makes him face her directly. He realizes he has been mistaken all this time in watching her feet, for it is in her face what Leo should take caution in. The tight grip of a human hand and the faint hum of the magic within creates an uncomfortable paradox in his mind.

He assumes that Celes has angry words for him.

"Are you so frightened of me now?" But her tone is the gentle tone that he would use with Terra in the caves. It cuts more.

He thinks that without the mark of the Empire ingrained almost physically on their breasts that his response would be to cup her traiterous face with his hand and speak of things he has only ever read before. But she is not the type of woman for such words and displays. Even when her sword was nearly bigger than she was the only assurances Celes required were the lack of a bruise or the absence of a cut. Leo has learned to sidestep with her, as it fits the kind of honor she has echoed from him.

"I could never fear a loyal soldier of the Empire."

_ooo_

Once, when she was still training to be a General and appearing as a wisp of a girl they were separated from the others. The time passed slowly, and even she was showing signs of fear. They were only two soldiers, wandering in the woods without any communication with anyone else.

Leo put his hand on her shoulder, and she smiled.

They had fought through those woods, against patches of guerilla forces, the fear gone from her the instant the sword was moving. Celes was a soldier to be trusted. But the warmth of her shoulder for those short moments had remained on his hand.

_ooo_

Celes knows he is speaking the truth, but there is something terribly vulnerable in the way she responds. It is not the words, but the square of her shoulders in her somewhat faded uniform that almost startles him.

"And what about... people? Not soldiers."

She is his comrade, sometimes his teacher, sometimes his student. He does not know what way she wants to be seen or where it has come from. Celes is just a girl and it disturbs him almost more than the changes in Kefka.

"People? What do you mean?"

It is fast, too fast, and he almost doesn't realize it is happening. He realizes that her lips were there only after the fact, but the warmth of her hands on the back of his neck shock him more than anything. What does he say to that? What does he do? _What sort of person does she want him to see her as?_

"I'm... I'm sorry."

He is alone just as fast, left gripping the the metal railing of the walkway where she had been standing and watching the rising smoke of the industry of Vector.

_ooo_

When he hears the report of her imprisonment, Leo is not surprised, the signs had been there all along. Kefka's eyes are almost glowing when he delivers the news, but he knows that there is something in Celes that he always lacked. For it is one thing to be a soldier, a general, but it is entirely something else to be a good person.

The cuff of his uniform is still clean, crisp. In the time that came after her infusion he could mark the hours by the loose threads in hers. By the looks she would not give him. He had never realized that they were as close as comrades could be, maybe more so.

Leo only wishes that when she asked for it, he could have followed.


End file.
